Abingdonboy
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Oh no doubting any of this! If you can- you will, this is how humans work.Can you blame them? When a single CBG can make most nations of the world quake and the Mighty Eighth forms the Air Force Global Strike Command then the temptation to act unilaterally increases exponentially. The point is to view it in the context of history, imagine a Caesar or an Ashoka, who both are the quintessential representatives of corresponding super-powers, with such a force at their disposal. They would have drenched the world in blood. Can you imagine Great Britain of old in its ye olde colonial days having such a quantum of force at its disposal and not demolishing a country or two in its pursuit for modestly priced tea? The point of using such anachronisms which might seem childish is to point out that America had been a more tolerant super-power than its predecessors.
In summation though, only a fool would ignore the fact that like any sane nation America too is driven by enlightened self interest and therefore should not be expected to be an "all weather friend", thankfully we have never been plagued by that particular asinine opinion and furthermore have never needed an A.W.F.
With respect to the "tolerant super power" part, I'd argue there were a number of facets to this. 1)The information age leaves them exposed anytime they want to commit any atrocities- both at home and abroad this will be played out. 2) In the past colonisers had no/little accountability to their people (they were ruled over), in a democracy like the US there is still (some) accountability so the executives/leaders can not do what they like- even this has its limits though, the US people were all too willing to go to Iraq even though this had nothing to do with anything. 3) context is everything, we would like to think we are more civilised and compassionate today than in the past especially towards our fellow human beings. 4) Again contextually speaking the weapons of today are far more deadly with greater reach than they have ever been-and even the US's supreme conventional military power has its limits (MAD and so forth).
Of course these all fit together and contribute to the other, who knows, if we were living in an age where the US was an autocratic state and the internet revolution had never happened what the world would look like today and what the US would be doing....
Couldn't agree more about the fallacy of the A.W.F on the international stage. As they say, "there is no such thing as permeant friends, only permanent interests". An country/person wanting to delude themselves they have A.W.Fs is going to find out the hard way how foolish this idea is......